Traditional medicine practitioners should be regulated on social media.

When 32-year-old Kolapo discovered that he had stage three haemorrhoids, he was devastated. He underwent lifestyle changes for two years until his surgery—and even after it. But before he finally resorted to having the hemorrhoidectomy done, he had tried several herbal remedies, including a popular brand associated with aphrodisiacs on Instagram.

“Nothing worked. Not even the herbal concoction I bought from this very popular brand on Instagram. I spent ₦25,000 to buy the product and this was after I watched famous content creators in a skit advertising it as the complete cure for pile. The claims they made were, of course, exaggerated but I was completely convinced at the time that it was genuine. Why else would these creators leverage their brand that they worked so hard to build if the product was inauthentic?” he told Pulse Nigeria.

The culture passed down

While Kolapo’s experience may be similar to other people who have fallen prey to the bogus claims of traditional medicine practitioners in promotional online materials, the fact remains that herbal mixtures have been a regular staple healthcare solution from time immemorial in Africa.

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What can be done

Relevant agencies need to enforce thorough regulation on false advertising by herbal medicine practitioners. They should not be allowed to make absolute claims, especially on social media. Stiffer sanctions should also be applied.

“I share the view that the social media space should be seriously regulated for those marketing traditional medicines. Even in the conventional pharmaceutical product marketing, you cannot advertise or market your products without getting approval from NAFDAC and the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON). The same system should be adopted for social media marketing of traditional medicines. Medicine is highly scientific and deals with empirical knowledge. That something worked for me does not mean it would work for everyone. While orthodox medicine is highly based on scientific procedure, most traditional medicine sellers base their claims on speculation. Hence, the reason we have to be very careful,” Iwelunmor noted.

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